15 minute read
repowering to electric
My introduction to Cinderella began one rainy fall day in Seattle at Fisherman's Terminal. A friend asked me to come look at an old Ericson 35-2 he was considering buying. She was listed as a "spartan racer/cruiser." The description could not have been more accurate. The interior was nearly empty, aside the hard-start engine to prolonged sitting at the dock. The day came to load up the 12-odd sails she came with and deliver Cinderella to her new slip at Fremont Boat Company on Lake Union. Again, the Yanmar crackled and hissed and fought, but once again finally came to life. When we had to stop to wait for the Fremont Bridge to lift, the RPMs slowly dropped — and the engine died. Definitely not an ideal situation for all the other bridges and locks of the area. Bugga! Over the course of the next six months, I battled with that Yanmar. Eventually I would spend more than $1,000 in parts alone to try to win it over — new lift pump, new starter, new exhaust elbow . . . it was adding up fast. But on nearly every outing, I would return to Seattle 'engineless', often with a boat full of friends. I was forced to get really good at sailing in light winds and onto docks. On more than one occasion, I was stuck waiting for the tugboat to come tow me home, through the Ballard Locks, and back to my slip on Lake Union. The whole experience was embarrassing and frustrating. In the end, I was thankful to have purchased BoatUS tow insurance.
The frustration culminated big-time when Ava and I planned to sail Cinderella north over the Christmas holiday. We wanted to cruise to Victoria for Christmas, on through the Gulf Islands, and eventually to Vancouver to meet friends for New Year's Eve. I filled the fuel tank with fresh fuel and treatment, and we set off. The first leg of our trip was motorsailing to Port of Everett Marina. Just as we arrived, like clock-
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work, the engine began spitting black smoke into the cabin as it ground itself to a halt. F&%#K!
We proceeded to troubleshoot with the Yanmar specialist at the chandlery and were devastated with the diagnosis: the engine had hydrolocked — sucked water into one or more cylinders! This meant the whole engine had to come out and get refurbished. This was a huge bummer. After dinner and a few beers at Scuttlebutt Brewing, Ava and I decided to continue the trip, engineless. It's a sailboat, right? That decision had unforeseen benefits. We were forced to double down on seamanship. Sailing plans were now based on the Puget Sound tides and the currents they drive rather than the fickle, unpredictable wind forecast. Overnighting or afternoon anchoring in tiny little nooks, waiting for the tides to turn, became the norm rather than motoring against currents in tight passes. We had to just be patient and prudent. Slowing down gave us a real taste of cruising. We opened our eyes to the nature around us, so easy to miss when we were meeting timelines. We watched bald eagles soar and dive for fish, and sipped tea while seals twisted and played like bioluminescent torpedoes.
We sailed into Victoria Harbor on Christmas Eve. We did it! Christmas in Canada! From there we headed to Salt Spring Island, part of Canada's Southern
Gulf Islands. We made it to Vancouver just in time for NYE festivities with our friends — all without an engine. That sailing trip had a profound impact on Ava and me.
Right around that time, a prominent YouTube sailing channel, Sailing Uma, had just finished a DIY install of an electric motor drive system. Uma showed us that going electric could be far less expensive than a new or secondhand replacement engine. Going electric on Cinderella seemed so logical.
Ava and Pajo. He's spent years messing about with boats in the Seattle area. She's a 'Jersey Girl' who had never sailed before.
from a couple of settees midships and a Porta-Potti suspended on a piece of plywood forward. The seller, a nonprofit, had accepted the boat on donation and was eager to get her off their dock.
What Cinderella lacked in comfort, she made up for in structural upgrades. Longitudinal stringers and tabbed bulkheads stiffened the hull. Santa Cruz 50 tie rods replaced the old-style chainplates that held the standing rigging loads. Of the 13 thru-hulls that came standard from Ericson, Cinderella had only three. The wheel steering had been ditched. In its place: a custom tiller and tiller head set atop an oversized, balanced rudder.
At the time I was not interested in another sailboat, much less another project sailboat. But the friend opted out of the purchase, so I made a ridiculously low offer of $6,000 — and I was soon on my way to pick up this newest project. I just needed to make her comfortable so Ava (who's now my wife) would come sailing with me.
During the sea trial, the Yanmar 2GM20F was extremely hard to start. The engine would crank and crank and crank, and pretend to start, but ultimately shudder to a stop. After letting the starter cool down a few times, we tried again, and she finally crackled to life. We motored out into Salmon Bay, and for the rest of the sea trial, the engine seemed to function perfectly. Excited to be purchasing a new boat at such a great price, I chalked up ALL PHOTOS / 'CINDERELLA'
This shot of 'Cindy' at anchor shows the solar panels that double as sunshades. The boat is currently in Opua, Bay of Islands, New Zealand.
I started researching the electric drive as an alternative auxiliary propulsion system on sailing yachts. There were some great systems already available on the market — Elco in the US; Torqeedo in Germany, Oceanvolt in Finland, to name a few. The problem was those systems cost as much as a brand-new diesel repower — batteries not included!
We needed a system that I could afford and install quickly. The sooner the better — Duck Dodge season (the racing season in Lake Union) was quickly approaching!
Of bigger concern than getting to and from local races, I bought Cinderella with the intention of making a voyage around the world. We needed to make sure the drive system we installed was robust enough to take offshore, and powerful enough to get us out of trouble. I got to work putting together my own conversion kit for Cinderella.
After months of research, I came up with a simple drive system that cost us $1,700. That price included a set of lowbudget batteries for the drive motor.
Since leaving Seattle to go offshore cruising in September 2017, our motor drive remains unchanged. We have sailed some 12,000 nm down the West Coast to Costa Rica, and onward across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand.
We did have to change our battery pack in Tahiti. Unfortunately, our budget batteries couldn't handle being left in the tropics through the rainy season. We arrived back at Cinderella after a fourmonth visit to the US only to find them completely dead. The replacement system we got from Firefly Energy should last, maintenance-free, for many years to come. If Alex Thomson and the crew of Hugo Boss are all-electric, that should tell you something. It's where the future is going. Battery technology is getting more affordable and accessible. The price for a LiFePO4 battery has dropped by 30% since we left Seattle. There has been a stir in the industry recently with battery pioneer John Goodenough's latest glass battery. This new technology could have a useful life of 64 years! For racers, going electric makes sense. Most weeknight or weekend races are within 30 motoring minutes from the dock. The battery bank required for this is actually very small. Cinderella's first battery bank was composed of four cheap lead acid batteries I picked up at the local auto parts store. I was able to get off the dock, to the race, and back. Simple, cheap, easy.
We charged at the dock overnight and were ready to go sailing again the next day. No need to lug jerry cans or stop at the fuel dock. Conveniently, we found maneuverability in tight quarters increased with the electric drive. No longer does one need to shift in and out of gear while approaching docks. There is no idle speed to worry
THE ELECTRIFICATION OF 'CINDERELLA'
After much research, Pajo purchased a Manta 2C brushed DC permanent-magnet motor off eBay for $400. At max power, it puts out 10kW, which will push Cinderella at 6 kts. At their normal powering speed of 4 kts, the boat uses about onethird less power, which translates (with the newer batteries) to a 30- to 40-mile range. We're told comparing kW to horsepower is a dark path, but for a rough idea, the Yanmar's 18-hp rating translates to about 13kW at the crankshaft. Along with other advantages of electric power, on most boats there will be a significant savings in weight and room. The Manta motor weighs 40 pounds and takes up about as much room as a watermelon. The diesel it replaced weighs 250 pounds and took up the entire space behind the companionway. Although you do have the weight of extra batteries, you also lose the weight of several hundred pounds of fuel in the 40-gallon tank — and the weight of the tank itself, if you remove it. In addition to the motor and battery bank, electric propulsion requires a few extra bits, the most expensive being a 'controller' — the equivalent of a throttle — to adjust the RPM and switch the motor from forward to reverse. A cost breakdown of Cinderella's
The hope was that the motor might fit out of sight below deck, but in the end it ended up in this higher position, with a belt driving the shaft.
electric motor install looks like this:
Motor $400 Controller $400 Batteries $300 Charger $200 Misc. $400
Total $1,700 Pajo sold the Yanmar for $550, which helped offset the cost. Details of the entire process can be found at Cinderella's website, www.sailingcinderella.com.
about with an electric drive. You can turn the propeller at 1 RPM or 1,200 RPMs by basically turning a dial. The feedback is instant, smooth, precise, and reliable.
We were also pleased to fi nd that our electric drive system could easily push Cinderella along at 6 kts. That was faster than with the Yanmar it replaced! On the fl ip side, with our limited budget batteries, we could probably only maintain that speed for half an hour. Cruising at 4 kts, we could 'steam' for over an hour. We found that was plenty of range for weeknight racing and daysailing around the Seattle area. Ultimately, electric drive for the racer or daysailor is maintenance-free, lightweight, easy, and budget-friendly. As for long-distance voyaging, Ava and I have been cruising offshore aboard Cinderella for three years now. We are happy with our electric drive and wouldn't go back to the headaches of internal combustion. We love the reliability that our electric drive system provides. There have been no worries about getting bad fuel in Mexico or Central America. We don't have to worry about starters, injectors, oil changes, or changing water pumps. Electric drive systems are nearly maintenance-free. A spare drive belt is about all we carry.
Since we have always known that range could be an issue, we pay much more attention to the weather forecast when deciding our sailing plan. Fortunately, sailing according to the weather happens to fall into the category of 'prudent seamanship' and makes life aboard much more enjoyable.
In late October 2017, Cinderella was anchored in San Diego Bay with the rest of the Baja Ha-Ha fl eet. The light and fi ckle winds in the forecast led to our decision to hang back and stay in San Diego on the day of the start. We watched at anchor as the fl eet set off to motor their way to Mexico.
We thought for a while that we might catch up, but unfortunately, waiting for better sailing conditions caused us to miss all of the Ha-Ha festivities. However, when we did depart San Diego, we no longer were on a timeline. We ended up having a blast slowly making our way down the Pacifi c Coast of Baja. Cruising with electric has its advantages, but sailing to timetables is not one of them. The big benefi ts to the cruiser come when integrating the drive battery with a yacht's house battery systems. The large motor battery system can then be utilized when spending long periods at anchor. Let's face it, modern cruising boats are becoming more and more power-hungry. Ever since integrating Cinderella's motor and house battery systems, we have enjoyed living at anchor without any power worries. We still have the ability to isolate our systems, giving us redundancy, but the added capacity when they are linked allows us to see small daily cycles, extending the overall life of our batteries. The electric drive for an off-grid cruiser is comfortable, clean, and maintenance-free. Loosening sailing timelines may cause you to miss a few parties, but it seems to us a small price to pay.
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As far as charging, there is on-grid and off-grid. For most sailors, plugging in at the dock makes the most sense. After an afternoon or daysail, simply plug in and charge your batteries back up. Clean, simple and turnkey-ready for your next sail. Our delivery of Cinderella to Victoria, BC, for the start of the 2017 Swiftsure Lightship Classic, was prior to our solar panel installation. We needed shore power to charge the batteries. The delivery was about 70 nm, but we only had a 5-10 nm motor range. After motoring out of the Ballard Locks, we set sail.
We arrived in Victoria and dropped sail as we approached the harbor. We had plenty of battery power remaining to motor into the harbor and to our eventual spot rafted among the other race boats. At the dock, Cinderella recharged her batteries as we enjoyed the pre-race festivities in the harbor and fi nished all lastminute checks. On vessels that spend time away from the amenities of shore, solar energy is usually the least expensive and simplest solution. The challenge on a sailboat is maximizing available space. Aboard Cinderella, two large solar panels sit atop a bimini above the cockpit; the panels give us 690 watts of charging power, allowing us to live on clean, renewable energy. They also give us much-needed protection from the intense tropical sun. The folks at MidNite Solar in Arlington, WA, were our go-to guys for battery and charging systems. After using their KID MPPT charge controllers for two years, we toured their facility, and were impressed with their passion and innovation toward a renewable-energy future. There are similar companies with equal commitment springing up on both coasts. One of our MPPT MidNite Solar KID controllers was accidentally tested when a surprise wave fi lled our cockpit nearly 100 nm off the Washington coast. Seawater came in through the open companionway and doused the charge controller. It still functions perfectly, and was the only piece of electronics that survived that salty enema.
It's been four years and many miles since Cindy 'went electric.' We love our Ava and Pajo took some time electric drive. We love the extra space inoff cruising last year to get married in Auckland. the cabin, the lack of diesel fumes, the lack of noise, and the lack of maintenance. We love that the system is scalable. And we love that battery technology continues to become more affordable. Sailing Cinderella is a sandbox where Ava and I will continue to test and promote sustainable cruising. Our goal is to help other boaters move toward renewable energy systems and decrease our impact on the planet.
— pajo gazibara
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